16. At least one of Saturn's rings are the result of a moon

Chalk up one more feat for Saturn's intriguing moon Enceladus. The small, dynamic moon spews out dramatic plumes of water vapor and ice -- first seen by NASA's Cassini spacecraft in 2005. It possesses simple organic particles and may house liquid water beneath its surface. Its geyser-like jets create a gigantic halo of ice, dust and gas around Enceladus that helps feed Saturn's E ring. Now, thanks again to those icy jets, Enceladus is the only moon in our solar system known to influence substantially the chemical composition of its parent planet.

8. You would always know the direction you were heading.

10. What would the ancients have thought of them?

They might not see them as rings, but arches. The way the appearance changes as you move north and south, Galileo may have been able to calculate their size and distance. The shadow of the Earth on the rings would produce lots of cool scientific speculation, and perhaps some crazy religious beliefs, too.

13. thats what I wonder

I think "the earth is clearly a sphere orbiting the Sun" would have been known (and more importantly--never doubted) from the beginning of civilization. This could have given us a huge leg up on science.

14. They might have sent massive expeditions to seek the "end" of the skybow.

'Cause it sure looks like it comes down to the ground just beyond that line of hills . . . or maybe the other side of those mountains . . . or beyond that sea . . . Holy cow, we're back where we started!